If you’ve been reading recently you know I’ve been on a hormone kick recently. That sexy looking molecule to the right and the hormone du jour: testosterone. Testosterone is the principal anabolic and sex hormone in humans, responsible for sexual desire and function, muscular hypertrophy, densification of bones, and hair growth. Compared to females, males famously produce about ten times the amount of testosterone, but females are far more sensitive to its effects. Though testosterone is largely responsible for those traits and characteristics that are considered “masculine” – physical strength, body hair, dominance, and virility – both sexes require it for proper sexual and physical development. In mammals, males secrete it primarily from the testicles (about 95% of the total amount, in fact) and women secrete it from the ovaries. A modicum is produced in the adrenal glands in both sexes.

Testosterone plays an important role throughout every stage of a person’s life:

Prenatally, testosterone – along with dihydrotestosterone, a more potent anabolic hormone – is partly responsible for the formation of the male genitalia. It helps determine gender identity (with society bringing up the rear later in life, of course) and it spurs development of the prostate and seminal vesicles.

In early infancy, boys’ testosterone levels rise, almost to puberty levels, only to plummet at 4-6 months. We’re still not entirely sure what the rise means and what all that testosterone is doing, but it’s definitely doing something. One theory is that the brain is being “masculinized.”

Immediately prior to puberty, testosterone begins to rise in both boys and girls. Childhood is departing, replaced by budding pubic hair, the beginnings of body odor, growth spurts, oily hair and skin, and that ridiculous peach fuzz above the lips that every eleven year-old male tries to cultivate and claim as facial hair. Bones mature and the arm pits grow hair.

During puberty, testosterone enjoys a massive increase. Most of you reading this probably recall those awkward, exciting change-filled times: new odors, inconvenient fluctuations in the functionality and appearance of certain organs, strange new outlooks on the opposite sex. Good times. Thanks, testosterone!

In adults, testosterone’s effects on growth and development have largely manifested and maintenance becomes its province. Libido is preserved for both men and women and erection strength and frequency are regulated by testosterone. Muscles resist wasting thanks to T (and even grow larger).

I would be remiss if I failed to mention testosterone’s chief antagonist: cortisol. Cortisol, as you know, is one of the stress, fight-or-flight hormones. It kept us alive and our wits about us under short-term life-or-death situations for much of our evolution. Unfortunately, when cortisol is constantly elevated – as it often is in the sleep-deprived and chronically-stressed – testosterone is muted. Cortisol is catabolic (breaks tissue down), while testosterone is anabolic. Excessive levels of cortisol produce insulin resistance, fat gain, and muscle wasting, while testosterone promotes muscular hypertrophy and lean mass gains. Cortisol contributes to metabolic syndrome, while testosterone helps alleviate it.

Ironically, serum testosterone status seems to predict the cortisol response of people faced with victory or defeat. High T men and women who “lost” released more cortisol, the stress hormone; when they “won,” less cortisol was released. Low T folks’ cortisol changes did not depend on winning or losing. I guess that’s a downside to high T levels, technically, but it’s to be expected. I’m reminded of the Jimmy Cliff classic, “The bigger they come, the harder they fall”.

So, testosterone is important, and even vital, if you want to build (and keep) strong bones and muscles, maintain a healthy, active sex life, and live long and well into old age – but how do we make sure we’re making enough?

In 1889, a Harvard University professor by the name of Charles-Édouard Brown-Séquard injected himself with a “rejuvenating elixir” containing the extract of dog and guinea pig testicle, reporting increased vigor and feelings of well-being. Traditional Chinese herbalists would often prescribe dried tiger’s penis for impotence, and ancient Greek Olympians feasted on goat and lamb testicles to boost stamina and athletic performance. Clearly, even before testosterone was specifically identified, the ancients (and not-so-ancients) knew that the loins were involved in vigor, strength, and stamina.

Their (our) fixation on consumption of genitalia and genitalia extractions to correct deficiencies in strength, vigor, sexual stamina, and general “well-being” sounds intuitive, in a folksy, endearing sort of way. Does it make sense to eat bull testicles to restore one’s manhood and increase available testosterone?

Not really. Testosterone doesn’t pool up in one’s testicles. It’s not a static reservoir waiting in reserve to be disseminated throughout the body. It’s a hormone that the testicles (in men) and ovaries (in women) produce. That mouthful of fluid you got when biting into a roasted sheep’s testicle on your Greek vacation wasn’t pure, liquid testosterone – sorry. In order to get testosterone, you have to produce it (or inject it, but that’s an entirely different post) endogenously. And if you want to manipulate the amount of testosterone you have available, you can do it the same way you manipulate other hormones, like insulin, leptin, growth hormone, and cortisol. You tinker with your diet, your exercise, and your basic daily lifestyle.

Lift Heavy Things

Resistance training is a potent stimulant of testosterone production, so be sure to lift heavy things every now and again. If you want to tinker even further, messing around with rest intervals between sets can stimulate different hormonal responses. In one study, resting 90 seconds between squat and bench press sets boosted post-workout T levels the most, followed by rest periods of 120 seconds. Resting 60 seconds increased growth hormone the most and T the least.

Sprint

In young men, a short six-second bout of sprinting increased serum total testosterone levels. Levels remained elevated during recovery. Interestingly, testosterone was also correlated with lactate levels in the blood. It would be even more interesting to know if any training that causes lactate levels to rise would also increase testosterone.

Avoid Foods that Regularly Spike Your Blood Glucose Levels

Researchers found that 75 grams of pure glucose – and the resultant spike in blood sugar – was enough to drop testosterone levels by as much as 25% in a random grouping of healthy, prediabetic, and diabetic men. Now keep in mind how rapidly many SAD carb choices (pasta, cereal, bread, etc) convert to glucose upon digestion…

Get Adequate Zinc Intake

All in all, testosterone is an incredibly important hormone for health, longevity, and vitality – in both men and women. Leading a Primal life, free of excessive stress and peppered with smart, intense workouts, full of healthy animal fats and plenty of vitamin D, should be enough to promote adequate amounts of testosterone coursing through your veins. It may sound a bit redundant at times (advice: live Primal!), but what can you do when a common, uniting thread seems to run through almost every aspect of human health. It almost writes itself.

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Imagine you’re George Clooney. Take a moment to admire your grooming and wit. Okay, now imagine someone walks up to you and asks, “What’s your name?” You say, “I’m George Clooney.” Or maybe you say, “I’m the Clooninator!” You don’t say “I’m George of George Clooney Sells Movies Blog” and you certainly don’t say, “I’m Clooney Weight Loss Plan”. So while spam is technically meat, it ain’t anywhere near Primal. Please nickname yourself something your friends would call you.

About two years ago I found that I hit a training ‘sweet spot’ and have struggled recently to produce the same results. What I didn’t do at the time was keep a diary of my training, diet and supplements. Though I do recall it pretty well, it was all fairly primal.

So it was only recently that I remembered I had bought a bottle of ZMA as an impulse buy and had taken three tablets before bed each night. At the time I had changed several other factors of my training and so I never put any of the results down to the ZMA. Once the bottle had finished I never gave it another thought. Until now that is. Having replicated the training but with a stubborn 14lbs of fat left to go. I have bought another bottle and I am already impressed. Although it’s too early to calculate my gain in lean muscle mass, I feel that I am training harder and my libido is through the roof. That is a pretty simple and conclusive indicator in my book.

Here I should mention ZMA only corrects the depleted minerals needed for T production. It also helps reduce cortisol and improves sleep. Well at least that’s what it claims. Now that I discovered that testosterone was the missing ingredient, I have also bought Tribulus which is a natural herb that also helps increase T production. Though this doubling up of supplements is not very scientific and I would probably be best to try both of them separately as controlled experiment I am at least happy to be making progress again. So I wonder what you think Mark to these supps?

So testosterone is this great magical hormone that keeps us healthy but when a baseball player uses extra amounts of it to run faster and hit farther he’s a cheater? and it’s an evil illegal drug and the scourge of youth and we must protect the children (from a chemical already in their body keeping them healthy).

You miss the point. Supplemental testosterone goes BEYOND what is normal for most men. In addition, it can have disastrous consequences in destroying natural testosterone levels.

When a guy supplements with testosterone, his body recognizes that he is getting his hormone requirement from a different source and begins to shut down natural production sources. When he goes off the supplemented test, he is all but dry. And when the body shuts something down, it’s EXTREMELY difficult to turn it back on again.

I’ve tried absolutely everything to increase testosterone naturally. As of now, I still haven’t found that magic something. No wonder why bodybuilders and professional athletes find no other way than to take steroids.

Science has proved things like high sat and mono fats help, zinc may reduce aromatase activity, etc. But when you put numbers to it, say those changes increase your T by 100% (which is unlikely), going from 200 to 400 isn’t really going to get you swole. You might feel a little better, but visually seeing results at those incremental differences would be unlikely.

I have type ii diabetes (since 1995 or 6). Metformin 1000mg bid was causing me tremendous cramping followed by bouts of diarrhea. Sex drive was in the tank..”wood” was something burned in a fireplace. Recently went to naturopath and he advised strict Adkins plan plus supps that were basically versions of chromium picolinate. Advised slow walking, no other exercise. Long story but there is a point. I went to a different doctor and he put me back on metformin (500mg bid) glimipiride (4mg) bid and single doses of levathyroxine and lisinopril. Recent readings of fasting and evening blood glucose have been in the low 100’s with one reading of 97. Doc said that the hypothroid could be contributing to lack of weight loss even though I am active and am exercising 3 to 4 times a week. My biggest concern and the subject of this thread is the ED. I have tried the pills and even investigated caverject or its Boston Medical equivalent. Is the ED reversible or will I need to check out the drugs again? I am 57 years old and have seen the decrease in erectile function over the last 3 years. Should I investigate the natural supps for this issue? Also the lisinopril has some concerns for me. I know this is long but I could use some direction.

You are missing the 2 most important things which are avoid alcohol and caffeine completely. Like this, one doesn’t have to worry about carbs so much, and will experience much less cravings for them anyway.

Once I initially commented I clicked the -Notify me when new feedback are added- checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get four emails with the same comment. Is there any way you may take away me from that service? Thanks!

Eat clean, excercise, stay away from all the sugary crap, THINK your way to strength and get in the gym and work your butt off! There really are NO SHORTCUTS. Tosca Reno has a great book for men (there’s also a ladies version) to help you get and keep TRULY lean and fit. Jack Lalanne and many others would agree: 90% of the equation is CLEAN EATING. The rest is hard, hard work, but we love it don’t we?!
Hope everyone enjoys their workouts. Blessings!
Mr. Clean Gene
Halifax, Nova Scotia

Just thought I would tell my story. At the age of 42 my T levels were in the low 3’s. The doctor prescribed Nebido injections (long-acting testosterone undecanoate). After a year my T levels rocketed to the mid 6’s, I looked and felt great… right up until the time I started to notice HAIR LOSS! Being a vain MF I stopped COLD effing TURKEY and started slathering on Minoxidil to arrest the hair loss problem, which seems to have more or less worked.(!) Stuff is pretty miraculous. Aside from indulging in that fairly toxic topical medication, I started living primally to cope with what I was told would be a hideous onslaught of depression and muscle-wasting. Yeah, I did lose mass. Yeah, my T levels plummeted to a 2.3. But after a year I am doing okay, and I kept my hair. My T cells are at 3.9 so they are inching up. I am told that I could combat the DHT-related hair-loss issues caused by the Nebido by taking Propecia. But I am not jazzed about these synthetic solutions, and countermeasures, and dependencies. I miss the injections and having a little better physique but you can’t always get what you want… That said, I will eventually supplement with injections — but only after I have really done everything I can to go natural. I am 44 tomorrow and hoping I can hold off until I’m 50.

I’ve been browsing on-line greater than 3 hours these days, but I by no means found any fascinating article like yours. It’s pretty value enough for me. In my opinion, if all web owners and bloggers made good content material as you probably did, the web can be a lot more useful than ever before.

hello i am 22 years(running year) old.i am 5.5 tall.i still want grow to taller by at least 2 inches or say 5 cm .what should i do?
i am doing yoga and few stretching exercise .is this enough ? what else can i do? i want do not want to take any tablet or medicine ,as my parent does not allow me to do so.please help me .i will be grateful to you all.

are you a guy or girl? also, yoga and stretching is not enough. lift hard and rest harder. as ridiculous as it sounds, look up natural bodybuilding. this in turn (if done correctly) should burn fat and build muscle. 6-7 small well portioned meals a day with PLENTY of protein and complex carbs. also, a lot of water and sleep. Sooo much water than you think…

i didn’t understand the no caffeine thing mentioned by someone. Is caffeine bad for testosterone? I’m starting to get depressed, looking at everything i love that may effect test. I’m 43, really fit, bike/run/lift weights, and eat really well (overall). My testosterone level came in at 270. Not good, right? (have yet to go back to doc). One thing that has not been mentioned – my wife and i are late on trying to have kids. Can test replacement therapy impact that? i hear it can, but wondering if a “low dose” of the gel might help me. I feel really good overall, but my libido is kinda lame…

the beer thing is depressing – i LOVE hoppy beers like IPAs. I don’t go crazy, but it really is my only indulgence, and i partake. Sugary desserts i have no problem with. So now i’m depressed after reading the hops/estrogen connection

Testosterone is the most important hormone in our body influencing the development of muscle mass (in a womanly way in women and a manly way in men), bone density and sex drive. healthy diet, regular exercise and sexual intercourse will increase your testosterone,

so uhm, had a complete blood levels scan done a couple days ago, found out i have very high levels of alot of good things, testosterone being one of them, i have 85% more testosterone then most males at my age, which i found to be really high, my doctor said its not a bad thing and asked about my eating habits, and now hes stumped, so iv been researching reasons i could have such high testosterone levels with poor eating habits, not much heavy wieght lifting, etc, and i cant figure it out, could anyone either explain to me or post a link on reasons i could have such high testosterone?

Than you for posting this. My doctor told me I have a low testosterone level and suggested a testosterone gel. But I read about it and fear the side effects. I know I am often stressed and cheat on my sleep time. I know I don’t exercise enough and am already low in Vitamin D. I need to lose about 15 pounds. All in all, I need to get up and do stuff. Just want to thank you for posting this. It makes me feel better knowing what I need to do instead of having to apply some expensive prescription that may have harmful side effects in other parts of my life.

A recent Japanese study found that vitamin K2 (MK-4) increased testosterone production in rats and concluded that supplementation could reduce down-regulation of testosterone production in the elderly. (PMID 21914161)

If you read it closely, it says that women are just more sensitive to testosterone. Women who lift weights are just healthier. Their bodies don’t bulk up like men, because the bodies react to just a little testosterone and the cycles of hormones change throughout the month anyway, flushing things out so there is more sensitivity to less, because it is not always at high levels. It ebbs and flows much more than men. See estrus, for more detailed info.

there are 4 billion women in the world – why waste 1 second argueing with a man hater. Ignore their “egg” and leave them barren and lonely while they “think” they produce all life. There are 3.2 billion women that love men – those are the givers of live (not the 800 milion that hate).

Testosterone contributes a large role to our body, for men testosterone helps sperm production, as well as causing puberty! For females it helps female sexual desire and the maintenance of healthy bones and muscles. female produce smaller amounts of testosterone than the male does.

I tried this Dr Max Powers Testosterone Booster – my first bottle to see if it works. It was worth to try… I can feel much better than before, my strength increased a lot and my muscle mass too, I also noticed some fat loss but I can’t tell if it is due to this product or because the product is giving me more strength to exercise more. Try it and you are going to remember me. Just take it as it suppose to. Some people don’t see results as described because they start a diet together with it, just keep with your regular life and take it. You will see.

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